I will unapologetically admit that this is one of my favorite books about death. It is written in an irreverent tone that belies the seriousness of the material. However, I will give you fair warning that if you have recently lost someone, this may not be the right book to read as it describes the sometimes gruesome things that happen to human bodies after death.
Roach opens with a description of a plastic surgery seminar where 40 human heads are laid out in roasting pans for doctors to practice on. The chapter describes not only the surgery the heads are undergoing, but also how they ended up decapitated and in roasting pans.
Other chapters talk about body snatching, human decay, and cannibalism. While these chapters may seem gratuitous and designed to titillate, there are other chapters that reveal how human bodies have served in the service of helping living humans live longer. This includes serving as crash test dummies, in the decades before crash test dummies were designed, and how cadavers advance medical science.
There is also a chapter on how crash investigators study the trauma inflicted upon the bodies of airline fatalities to determine whether the engine gave out or if there was a bomb, and how the Army used corpses to test the effectiveness of ordinance.
Although I find this book entertaining and interesting, I can also acknowledge that there are some who would find it very distastful so I’ll advise you to read at your own risk.